It is often desirable, for aesthetic and other reasons, to provide transparent articles, such as architectural windows, automotive windows, eyewear lenses, and the like, that exhibit a desired color, i.e., tint. Such color is sometimes obtained by the use of dyes that are included in the composition used to manufacture the glass or transparent plastic material. Alternatively, a colored coating containing a dye may be deposited upon the material. Pigments are typically avoided because they typically produce hazy or opaque materials with reduced transparency.
Dyes, however, while often suitable for use in preparing colored transparent articles, also suffer from some drawbacks. Dyes are subject to degradation by visible light and/or ultraviolet light. As a result, materials colored with dyes are typically less durable and exhibit less lightfastness than comparable materials colored with pigments.
As a result, it would be desirable to provide colored composite transparencies that exhibit color durability and lightfastness typical of pigmented materials while still exhibiting the transparency typical of a dye containing material.